Report: Bulgaria may restart gas imports from Gazprom

MOSCOW, Aug 10 (PRIME) -- The Bulgarian government is considering different options of solving the country’s energy crisis, including restarting natural gas imports from Russian gas giant Gazprom, Caretaker Energy Minister Rossen Hristov said in an interview to local television channel bTV broadcast late on Tuesday.

“We are a government of technocrats, and we are considering all options, including a restart of supplies from Gazprom. We are considering alternative suppliers as a priority, but if it turns out that they are not sufficient, I will not be the minister who will leave the people freeze in the winter,” he said.

Gazprom stopped pumping gas to Bulgaria in April as the country refused to pay for it in rubles. The Bulgarian government of Kirill Petkov later signed an agreement with the U.S. on the delivery of seven liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers, but the country’s business representatives thought it will not be enough.

As a result, the government resigned, and attempts to form a new government failed. President Rumen Radev announced early parliamentary elections and appointed a caretaker government that started working on August 2.

Ivan Topchiysky, chairman of the board of directors of Bulgarian gas distribution company Bulgargaz, said in August that the company continued negotiations with Gazprom and that it was possible to restart supplies of Russian gas to Bulgaria.

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